Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
October 23, 2008, Washington Post

For Kids, It's Not About Playing to Win

It's the time of the year when all the major professional sports are in action. The Redskins are off to a fast start with a record of five wins and two losses. The surprising Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies are squaring off in the World Series. The Capitals are skating, scoring and winning. And the Wizards begin their regular season next week.

Everyone pays so much attention to pro sports that sometimes when kids play sports, parents, coaches and kids think young athletes should be mini-professionals.

But kids aren't pros, and pros aren't kids. Maybe this is a good time to remind everyone of some important differences between the games we watch on TV and the games kids play.

Pros play to win. Professional sports are a big business. Many people's jobs and millions of dollars can depend on which athlete or team is crowned champion. Kids should play to learn about competing, improve their skills and have fun. Winning is great, but it shouldn't be the only reason kids play sports.

In pro sports, if a player does not play well, the team cuts him. Take the Redskins punter at the start of this season, Durant Brooks. He had a couple of bad games, and the Redskins got rid of him. Though some travel teams cut kids, I don't think they should. Coaches and teams should give kids time to improve.

Pros push their bodies so hard that they often play hurt. Think of the injury list before every NFL game or remember when Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open on a broken leg. But professional athletes are adults, and they can decide for themselves whether playing hurt is worth the risk.

Kids should never play hurt. No game, even a championship game, is worth the risk of further injuring a young athlete. Parents and coaches should remember that it is more important to keep kids healthy so they can enjoy sports for a lifetime than to win some trophy for 12-year-olds.

Very few professional athletes play more than one sport. The competition at the top is so tough that pros have to concentrate on their one sport and work year-round to keep up their skills. Kids should play more than one sport. Playing different sports helps kids become better all-around athletes and to avoid injuries. It also helps kids from getting burned out on one sport.

A recent article in The Washington Post indicated that Elena Delle Donne, a basketball player so good that she is known as "the female LeBron James," quit basketball to play college volleyball. After playing hoops exclusively for years -- Delle Donne has had a personal trainer since the second grade -- she stopped. "The sport ended up dying for me," she said.

So enjoy watching all the pro sports action. Just don't forget that the reason kids should be playing sports is for the fun of it.

Fred Bowen writes KidsPost's sports opinion column and is an author of sports novels for kids.

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